How high is Mount Rainier? That question was one I remember from my reference class “scavenger hunt” assignments way back in my master’s program at Indiana University. It was also one of the first questions I asked our new Amazon Echo during the holidays as I experimented with Alexa as a virtual assistant.

Budgets are tight. For many, webinars and online conferences have been a primary professional development tool of late. Attending a keynote is as easy as sitting down at your desk and plugging in headphones. But when there is money for conference travel, how do we maximize the potential for learning and growth face to face (F2F)? What’s the value of F2F in a virtual, networked world?

For those with a newly minted LIS degree or soon to graduate, it’s never too early to start putting yourself out there. And for those already on course in your professional life, please look for ways to help our next generation of library professionals along.

We’ve been talking about the power of a story for a long time in our field. Libraries have always been about access to the stories of the world, collected, cataloged, and placed on a shelf waiting to be discovered. Take some inspiration from these unique approaches to honoring stories of all kinds.

Remember this? Essential Skills + Mind-set² x Support = Success. How does the formula for success hold up with an engaged group of international librarians working to build a model of the 21st-century library professional? At the Next Library Conference in Aarhus, Denmark, I found out, along with my workshop coleaders Jan Holmquist, assistant library director, Guldborgsund Public Library, Denmark, and Mylee Joseph, consultant, Public Libraries and Engagement Division, State Library of New South Wales, Australia.

The following cry echoed through the Dokk1 library in Aarhus, Denmark, from participants in the Next Library 2017 conference as a morning icebreaker/creativity exercise: “Yes, we made a mistake!” Mistakes were encouraged and celebrated during the three-and-a-half-day International Festival for library folk in June, intended, the conference website notes, as a “patchwork” of colearning, cocreative, participatory, engaging, pluralistic, and interactive meetings.

How do we “build a librarian” for 21st-century information work? It’s an ongoing discussion in libraries and LIS programs that has many sides and a range of opinion. Some argue that while library school offers the foundations, theories, and service concepts of the profession, on-the-job experience seasons the information professional for doing the work. I would argue it is a mix of all of these things and more.

What do I listen to now? More than a few folks shared this sentiment online in the days following the release of “S-Town,” a podcast hosted by Brian Reed and created by the producers of “Serial” and “This American Life.” It topped ten million–plus downloads within four days of release. I binged all seven episodes over spring break and found the series to be a moving, insightful, and well-conceived piece of audio journalism.

One of my students was telling me about her public library job: “It just breaks my heart some days…. There is such a disconnect between the technologies our management wants us to explore and implement and what our patrons need and want. Our patrons are the city’s most vulnerable citizens.”

I’ll own this: I’ve been pretty emotional since the election in November. I spent my holiday break practicing self-care, including stepping back from social media, cuddling with my dogs Cooper and Dozer, and bingeing on old sitcoms.